


The First, And Certainly Not The Last!

by Belle82DevArt



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Character Death, Drabble, F/M, Hurt and comfort, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Character Death, Panic Attacks, bad history and coping, fluffy doctor moments, past trauma of sorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 14:31:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19747642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belle82DevArt/pseuds/Belle82DevArt
Summary: Prompt: The Doctor's newest companion has to face the first death shes ever dealt with in her life and the Doctor must comfort her in some way, shape or fashion.





	The First, And Certainly Not The Last!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the lovely @timelord-winchester-22b on Tumblr for the prompt!

It's hard to comprehend, how it all began and how it all led to what was before and what is now. Eyes of flashing curiosity watching on as the world slipped away and body sung as it tingled and collapsed with a cry of fallen lips. Tears fell in such a flow as to wash away the fear and dirt that clung to blushing skin in the harsh winds of winter. Crimson, crimson like that of scattered roses in the middle of a harsh snowstorm spreads and splintered into different paths all rolling downhill to knees that wobbled and breath that came out in harsh puffs. The world had crashed in a way that made the earthquake and body shiver. A cough, a sputter and hiccup. Shaking hands took hold of the blood stained fabric that was once that of a lighter color. 

A past memory, that's what laid before the woman on ripped jeans covered knees and chilling air making hot puffs of air following with each harsh swallow and gasp of the air. A whisper of a name, shaking lips letting out a silent gasp when that of chilled flesh grasped desperately at the hand that was so warm in the Siberian winter. He had said it would be dangerous, would have been smart to stay away from the action and yet the action was what called, what beaconed, what had drawn the woman who sobbed with trembling lips and numbing fingers. 'It's a time traveling machine, what you'll be staying in if you become my companion'. He made her feel like it was that from a science fiction novel, that all would end well and no one would die.

"(First name)!" Called the voice of memories in the making, standing in the breeze before brilliant blue and the marker of a 'Police Box' beneath the siren like flashing of a beacon demonstrating the booth was in use. A hush hits the air when everything began to grow harsher in the chilling breeze. He heard the harsh breaths, saw the crimson and despite the device he carried not being that of a suitable weapon, rather a variety means of escape, the Doctor still brandished such in a way as to make whatever caused the scene fade from existence in a flash. Chocolate eyes met those of red puff and trembling lips coated in the hot puffs of air nearing every half second to quarter second. His hands fumbled as he looked on, eyes wide and simply looking on. The weeping, the weeping of the angels wasn't that of stone or alien matter but of the new companion that wept and shook. If he wasn't mistaken, he could damn near hear the woman's heart hammering and see her head swimming. 

"The first is always the hardest." He admits with a hush to his tone, coat removed and wrapped around the fragile form that stared on in petrified horror. "The first one you've seen. It's harder when it's someone you knew....It's harder when it's someone you loved." He knew the look that lingered in her shaken gaze, knew that of despair and dread as the one you cherished faded away into whatever oblivion they had been integrated from. He walked the other despite having most of the weight of the panicking woman in his grasp and damn near falling to the TARDIS, grasp gentle yet firm all in the same as the door was nudged open with a somewhat well polished shoe and closed behind him to keep the heat of the interior TARDIS intact. A seat was taken by the door and the alien of a man joined with a huff and soft look. Glasses adjusted before a hand moving back in a slow sweep of fluffy, the doctor took a deep breath and rubbed the others back through the heavy overcoat. "Calm down, honey. You need to take a few deep breaths before you panic yourself to uneasy slumber." He didn't need her collapsing or fainting on him.

It took moments, moments the Doctor used to think of the proper wording to use before the other was breathing steadily excluding a hiccup here and there, excluding the tears still spilling which had been wiped after a second of debate with a gentle brush of a thumb. He hooked his finger beneath the woman's chin, rising it up and tilting her head so she could view the man who looked on with softness and understanding. This alien man, he knew this heart break just like any other of his kind would have if they survived. Silently the Doctor pulled the other close and in the warmth of the embrace, he simply hummed a sound of understanding. "What did they mean to you?" The question was that of startle to the Doctor and his gaze fell to the other that wrapped her shaking form tighter in the abundance of fabric that would normally cover a three-piece. "Who?" He questioned in soft revelation at such, a hint of something borderline fearful within his gaze. Companions from before knew the story, but this one...this one came after Rose, after Mickey and Donna...This one has yet to see the wonders of space and time and grow that thick of a skin to the death that followed the man. 

He had warned of such, the danger. He warned of the possibility of being unable to protect her even if she knew how to defend herself. Maybe physically, but there was never a day that the emotional toll could have fathomed just what today has had in store. "Your kind...How did you deal?" Questions of the shaky variety and the Doctor simply readjusted his glasses in a nervous manner and took a moment to debate just how to respond. Tear stricken features watched on at pursed lips and shaky movements. "I...I didn't for the longest of time. I had yet to get beyond the theory of going back and setting everything a new, to eradicate and exterminate the Daleks, but it was when I saw just what was beyond the stars did I realize just how to cope. Taking a life is two times worse than saving one, and I've counted down how many it would take to feel whole in a society that has been eradicated beyond myself." He stole a sample of air with a quick inhale and looked on with those big, chocolate eyes...looked on to nothingness excluding the console that rested in the middle of the big blue box. "They should have never been the ones to have to be reset to zero...but that's how I cope."

It took a tick, a hint of a single second that meshed with uncomfortable and relieved silence. It took that long for the Doctor to hold the other against his side and simply listen to the soft breathing of the warming human being growing back to what he knew. The flecks of excitement when he first arrived, the curiosity and need for the thrill. "My old flatmate," began the woman with a sniffle and glance up to the aliens view, his own returning the glance and meeting in a soft motion. "that's my first...my first body." The Angels as the Doctor had thought of only before must have been unable to quite petrify the other in frozen catalyst form. Quantum-locked humanoids made of flesh like stone and luring those that cross them. Maybe it was a ploy to get the Doctor lured out, or maybe a chance killing. "I knew him since I was five, Doctor. We hadn't talked when we left for our respective Universities but...But I knew it was him." "Of course you did. Your kind may be primitive of apes but you know how to remember little details even the most insignificant." The other bites on his lip when the woman sighed and buried her face away in his shoulder, trembling fingers locking with his own when the tips of warm digits traced chilled knuckles. Soft, he could be soft and that was always the Doctors biggest downfall. 

Always. He always cared too much about those minuscule details.  
He cared too much about his companions.

"Start by remembering a fond memory, and carry that rather than the last moment you spent with your mate. That will help in the beginning. It alway does." The Doctor hummed and allowed his eyes to flutter when the grip on his fingers started and the soft attempt at concealing tears started once more only to be wiped away with the joined fingers that created warmth in contrast to the chill of the outdoors. "Then...then find that one distraction that helps you keep going." "Your distraction is saving people, yes?" The faintest hint of a grin met the Doctors lips despite the half-lidded view of the interior of the Police Box. "Yes." "I want to try such, then. I want that to be my distraction, Doctor." 

A single glance, a moment of realization that this was truly happening. A time-lord such as himself could only think that his companion has had enough of such, that she wouldn't be able to cope and yet here was that fierceness that had drawn him to her in the first place. That determination.

"Then you've come to the right Doctor, (First name)."


End file.
